Kevin Durant Delivers In The Clutch

Durant goes glass to lift Thunder over Golden State 119-116.

Golden States’ Monta Ellis went for 48 points and 7 rebounds and his teammate David Lee had a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. Yet, it wasn’t enough as Golden State fell to the Thunder. Somehow the duo of Durant and Westbrook still managed to win. The game was tight the whole way with Golden State up after the first quarter and then Oklahoma up by 2 at half.

Oklahoma’s Durant didn’t put his team up to stay until their was only 14.2 seconds remaining on the clock and he went glass from just inside the 3-point arc. In response to Durant’s game winning shot Warrior’s head coach Mark Jackson commented, “I don’t think he called bank.”

Is this the case of a bitter coach after a loss? Nope, it turns out Jackson was right. Durant didn’t call bank and actually didn’t think his shot was going in at all. Durant confessed after the game that he threw up a horrible shot and was amazed it went in. I guess when you’re the 2-time NBA scoring champion shots just drop, even if you’re off.

Durant lead the Thunder with an impressive 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists and his partner in crime Westbrook went for 31 points and two clutch free throws with under 10 seconds remaining. The Warriors had their chances down the stretch, but Ellis and Rush missed 3-pointers with under a minute to go that sealed their fate.

The real breakout story of this game was Monta Ellis. He’s been a solid NBA player for years, but the question now is can he be a consistent team leader. His 48 points on 18-29 shooting and domination of the offensive flow for the Warriors is the stuff elite players are made of. Ellis has shown flashes of this brilliance in the past, but the question is can he consistently get his shot and go for monster numbers when necessary. Oh, and hitting shots with under 10 seconds left on the clock is important too.